A to Z of Wimbledon: Day 13

The last day is done. Wimbledon is over for another year. Zip of the tournament is left. It's over.

Roger Federer recovered from his back injury, which flared against Xavier Malisse (phew), and won the title for a seventh time. Amazing stuff.Andy Murray was the only man left standing in Federer's way at the start of Wimbledon's final day. He'd been relaxed over the 48 hours since he'd seen off the challenge of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Centre Court, but today he faced his biggest challenge.

Twice before Murray had faced Federer in major finals and lost. In New York four years ago, Murray was handed a tennis lesson by the man who was then close to unbeatable in the Big Apple.

Two years ago in Melbourne, Federer grabbed his until now most recent major, when he trounced Murray at Melbourne Park. The Scot showed some resistance in the third set, but lost it in a mammoth tie-break.

This time things looked different. Not in the sense of course that Murray was favourite because he wasn't. But because he did have a chance. He'd come though the toughest draw of any of the big names and although Federer had reasserted his pedigree in his win over Nole on Friday; most thought Murray had a chance.

The feeling was largely accurate as Murray did have a chance or two. He took most of them including the first set, but then failed four times to break Federer's serve in the second. It often proves to be a terminal error. Roger took his chance when it came along in the 12th game as he grabbed the set in style with a wonderful backhand drop volley.

The third set was crucial and the sixth game especially so. By now the roof was shut due to the heavy rain that had once again engulfed the All England Club. Federer plays well under the roof, but this advantage alone didn't hand him the match. Murray himself knows how to play indoors. But it did give Federer surety on his more expansive ground strokes and also on his serve. He thrived where Andy was comfortable.

Back to the sixth game. It went 19 minutes alone this epic and was in fact a microcosm of the entire match. Murray was magnificent in holding off Federer for six break points. There was great serving in clutch moments, great winners from Federer who at one stage half volleyed a ball on his own baseline to land plumb on Andy's. It was delicious tennis.

Finally at the net on deuce Murray slipped while recovering a drop shot and Federer's lob was inch perfect. On his seventh break point, Federer ripped a sumptuous forehand cross court and Murray could only put it into the net.

Game, set and match ... just about. Fed took the set, and then in the fourth picked his moment to grab the break in the fifth game. Murray had one last chance to break back but fluffed his lines when faced with a forehand into the open court with Federer 15/30 down on serve. This time it was game, set and match, in just less than three and a half hours.

So, Murray has no wins from his first four major finals, the same as his coach Ivan Lendl had. He'll be hoping he can match Ivan's record at the end of his career, although I'm sure he'd swap one of Lendl's eight wins in Melbourne, Paris or New York for just one title here at SW19.

Murray opened up on court after the match, emotionally thanking all for their help over the last two weeks and also the crowd. But this was not some perfunctory "oh you guys are just the best crowd in the world" kind of rubbish that we hear all the time. This was the real McCoy, heartfelt and giving, and a true insight into how much pressure the man from Dunblane actually feels every time he walks onto the courts here.

He didn't lose it, Federer won it. Roger's victory draws him level with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw on seven titles and moves him further clear on 17 on the list of major championship winners. It's unrivalled although we'll never know how many titles Rod Laver and his contemporaries may have won if things had been different.

One thing you can't take from Roger though is that he was superb. He turned back the clock to the point where some of his tennis was mesmerising. There are still more errors than there used to be, but there are a lot of winners and a lot of delightful moments. And it was enough to give him the title. He may even be favourite in New York, when the tennis world gets together again at the end of next month.

So it was Roger and Serena's year. One out of two ain't bad in my view. Not the double success of last year with Petra and Novak, but I really felt Djokovic had the firepower to win again.

Upsets are part and parcel of sport and the likes of Lukas Rosol beating Nadal we'll never see again. Then there are the minor upsets like Fed and Serena winning here, neither were favourites but both are champions.

My six-year-old son Oliver struggles with the concept of upsets and still feels that one should always beat two and so on, and in many respects he's right...but as veteran radio tennis journalist Graham Agars said to me this week of upsets, "that's why we love sport and that's why we make them play it out".

So true, and that's why we all love Wimbledon. And all its many letters.